Vascular Disease Prevention (Discontinued) - Volume 1, Issue 3, 2004

The heart is a major site of natriuretic peptides (NP). Atrial and brain natriuretic peptide (ANP and BNP) are predominantly produced by atria and ventricles. C-Natriuretic peptide (CNP) is also found in heart tissue. ANP and BNP are produced by cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts. Cardiac fibroblasts also secrete CNP. Three NP-receptors (NPR-A, NPRB, NPR-C) are expressed in heart atria and ventricles. ANP, BNP and CNP e Read More

Selectins are important leukocyte adhesion molecules mediating the initial capture and rolling of leukocytes and therefore contributing to an effective recruitment of leukocytes to sites of inflammation. In animal models, blockade of P-, E-, or L-selectin-dependent leukocyte rolling has been shown to protect from several acute and chronic inflammatory diseases such as ischemia / reperfusion injury, asthma, psoriasis, and at Read More

Oxygen occupies a key role in cellular metabolism and function. Oxygen delivery to cells is crucial and a lack of oxygen such as occurs during myocardial infarction can be lethal. Cells must therefore be able to respond to changes in oxygen tension. Since the first studies examining the acute cellular effect of hypoxia on activation of transmitter release from glomus or type I chemoreceptor cells, it is now known that virtu Read More

Degenerative, nonrheumatic aortic valve stenosis is the most common acquired valve disease. Regardless whether the stenosis develops on a congenitally normal or abnormal (bicuspid) aortic valve, the progressive fibrosis, calcification, fusion and degeneration of the aortic cusps can be regarded as an atherosclerotic disease. Accordingly, it is strongly correlated to the prevalence of coronary artery disease. Stenotic valv Read More

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) has an increasing prevalence and incidence; 30% of the patients with intermittent claudication die within 5 years. Therapeutic goals are therefore a reduction of the high cardiovascular mortality and improvement of the ischaemic symptoms. The review describes the medical treatment options for the different stages of PAD and focuses on new treatment strategies, like the local applicati Read More

The most common symptom of patients with peripheral arterial disease [PAD] is intermittent claudication. Symptomatic peripheral vascular disease carries at least a 30% risk of death within five years and almost 50% within 10 years, primarily due to myocardial infarction [60%] or stroke [12%]. Lifestyle modification should be an integral component of secondary preventive therapy and complete cessation of tobacco use and reg Read More

Inhibition of exogenous thrombin is impaired in neonatal compared to normal adult plasma due to neonatal antithrombin (AT) deficiency. It has been suggested that newborn infants may be resistant to antithrombotic therapy [administration of unfractionated heparin (UH), low molecular weight heparin (LMWH), antithrombin-heparin complex (ATH)] during overt thrombotic disease when the neutralisation of abnormal thro Read More

Sesamin is one of the lignans found in high concentration in sesame seeds and oil. Several studies have demonstrated the protective effects of sesamin against the liver injury, which is mainly due to its antioxidative activity. However, little is known about the biological activities of sesamin in cardiovascular system. We have recently obtained evidence that dietary sesamin efficiently suppressed the development and maintena Read More

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in Western communities. Moreover, type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) has become one of the most frequent diseases challenging physicians and its prevalence is rapidly increasing. The metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 DM. The most common manifestations of the metabolic syndrom Read More

Prostacyclin (PGI2) inhibits platelet aggregation, and vasoconstriction. Prostacyclin synthase (PGIS), a catalyst of PGI2 formation from prostaglandin H2, is widely distributed and predominantly found in vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells. The PGIS gene is localized to 20q13.11-13 and thought to be a candidate gene for cardiovascular disease. Several mutations and polymorphisms in the gene were reported to be asso Read More

The aim of this study was to determine whether ultrasound features of polycystic ovaries (PCO) are associated with Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), a condition linked with an increased risk of vascular events. A total of 66 women had ultrasound scans of their ovaries. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of MetS among women with unilateral or bilateral ultrasound evidence of PCO compared with women with Read More